Digitizing Realityby TheDimensionRiftChaptersChapter 1: The Ponyville IncidentChapter 2: Back To SchoolChapter 3: The boy called "V"Chapter 4: AnswersChapter 5: Night HeistChapter 1: The Ponyville IncidentThe room was devoid almost entirely of light, except for the computer monitors which seemed to glow with numerous screens displaying unreadable numbers and letters. A figure sat in the center of the monitors typing away on the keyboard, but something caught his eye making him stop in mid process. The boy’s face held a stunned expression as he read what was going across his screen, it was something he never thought he would see. “Interesting, judging by these readings, I’d say he’s already begun making his move,” The boy removed his glasses and cleaned them with a cloth before readjusting them back on his face. He typed in a command on the computer. “ECO, run a scan on all EQT’s in sectors A through F and connect me to contact number 334” the boy spoke waiting patiently until a robotic male voice responded. “Connection successful, awaiting scanner results” The boy’s monitor now had an image of a grey pony on it, he had an emotionless look as he was greeted by the human. The two then began to engage in conversation. “He’s making his move right now, isn’t he?” “Yes, multiple anomalies breaching your side in sector’s A through F. Is the new device ready yet?” “I just finished it up this morning, are you crossing over?” “It would seem so” “What’s your ETA?” “I’m leaving now, we’ll begin our investigation at the closest site first, it’s gonna be crashing down outside a small town named Ponyville. Set up for transport and await my arrival” “Understood,” the grey unicorn nodded in recognition to the human's request and the monitor faded to black, leaving the room consumed in total darkness. “Thanks for coming to spot me for flight practice Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash as she and Twilight landed on a cloud. “No problem, me and Spike were going to study the different types of cloud patterns and their effect on the ecosystem anyway, right Spike?” Spike laughed nervously as he jumped to her friend’s back. “Actually Twilight, I just used that as an excuse to tag along. I just really wanted to see the new flight tricks Rainbow Dash had been working on” Twilight had a bit of a saddened look on het face as he said this. “Oh, okay” she said in a low tone. “Just be careful, I can’t risk my number 1 assistant getting hurt” she said with a look of worry. “Roger that,” said Rainbow Dash as she saluted Twilight with a hoof. “Come on Spike let me show something I’ve been working on that’ll rival a Sonic Rainboom” Rainbow and Spike than took off at a fairly fast speed, leaving Twilight alone on the cloud. Even though her friends were within eye sight, Twilight couldn’t help but feel alone. She wished she had a friend who shared common interests with her. Not many ponies were into reading, science, studying, and all the other book wormy things she was in to. As she was lost in her thought, Twilight watched Rainbow Dash with Spike on her back burst through clouds and zoom across the sky. But as she watched her, Twilight saw a strange transparent formation in the sky. It quickly became visible as it appeared to puncture through space and time itself, entering the dimension. “Rainbow Dash look out!” Twilight screamed to her friend. Rainbow Dash and Spike narrowly escaped getting hit by the strange object, she and Spike watched as it crashed down in an empty plain below them. Twilight flew straight down to the objects crash sight, as she descended upon it, she took notice that the object was made of a metallic bond. She stared at it in pure awe as Rainbow Dash caught up with her on the ground. “What is that thing?” the pegasus asked with a puzzled look. “I’m not sure” Twilight replied as she walked closer to the object. “It doesn’t look like its made of any known metal I’ve ever seen” “That’s because it belongs to aliens!” Spike yelled with a worried look on his face. “Come on Spike, aliens?” Rainbow Dash laughed at the little dragon as she asked. “So what’s this supposed to be? An alien spaceship?” Rainbow teased. “Interesting thought, though the concept and design of the structure would contradict such a theory” The three friends turned around when they heard a voice speak from behind them. When they turned to the direction of the speaker, their curiosity was met by a dark grey unicorn with a mane and tail of silver. Unlike the rest of his body, his eyes were a bright Cyan which stood out, even when hidden behind his thick frame glasses that he wore on his expressionless face. “If you were to examine it closer, one could clearly see that the architecture of this device is too rough to hold any kind of propeller or engine,” the unicorn said as he walked past the trio and up to the object. He put his head to it and knocked several times, “No reverberations, it’s a solid object. Simple deduction would mean that it has no means to hold any sizable occupants even by a filly's standards, ergo making it quite inconceivable for any kind of foreign life to inhabit such an object” he then turned to face Twilight. “Apologies for the rude intrusion your Highness,” said the pony as he bow his head. “No need for formalities,” said Twilight as she held a astonished look. “You seem to have an a good idea of what this is don’t you?” Twilight asked as she raised an eyebrow. “I bet he knows about what it is because he’s the cause of it” Rainbow Dash had a skeptical look on her face as she eyed the unicorn. Twilight shot her friend a quick glance of disapproval before she faced the grey pony again. “I’m afraid both your accusations lack sufficient evidence to bring your suspicions to a conclusion” the unicorn replied as he pulled out a strange looking box and threw it on the ground. He stepped on it and triggered it to expand and take the form of a portal which hummed to life with a spinning purple and lavender swirl. Twilight gasped from surprise of what she had just seen. “I apologize Princess Twilight, but we must really be on our way” “We?” asked Twilight with a confused expression. Just then, another pony which held a striking resemblance to the one already present emerged from the portal. “What’s going on?” Twilight’s face now held a look of irritation and confusion. One of the ponies pulled out another box looking object and used his magic to turn it on. Unlike the other, this box appeared to envelope the object in magic before sucking it in within seconds. The unicorn picked it up with his magic and went through the portal, the other turned to follow him when a yell from behind made him stop. “Who are you!? And what is that thing and where are you taking it?” Twilight was staring hard at the pony with anger in her eyes, “I want answers!” she yelled as the unicorn slowly turned to meet her gaze. He stood for a few moments in silence with his expressionless eyes locked on her's. “You will receive answers Twilight Sparkle, but now is not the time nor the place. When we meet again I will provide any and all answers that you require. However, for the time being the only information I may give you is BlackHat. If your as smart as I heard you are, than you’ll find out what it means soon enough” as he said this, the unicorn stepped into the portal which immediately closed behind him, making chase impossible. Twilight stood with Rainbow Dash and Spike who shared her extremely confused expression. What were those objects? Who was that mysterious pony? And what could any of thing he just said possibly mean. Chapter 2: Back To SchoolTwilight stood in silence as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. She had so many questions and not a single answer except for a phrase which may or may not mean something, it was irritating her inside. Seeing this, Rainbow Dash tried to lighten her friend’s mood. “So I’m guessing your just as confused as we are?” asked Rainbow as she gave a nervous laugh. Seeing her attempt wasn’t working, the pegasus tried a different approach. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked as she flew to her friend. “Rainbow head back to Canterlot and inform Princess Celestia of what happened here. Spike and I will examine the crash sight and look for clues” The pegasus gave her an assuring nod and took off towards the city at great speed. Twilight walked into the small crater and looked around searching for even the faintest of clues. She noticed a small metallic fragment under some ruble, using her horn she levitated the piece in front of her face as she studded it. She put in a bag that she had with her and turned to her dragon. “Come on Spike, I think I know where this came from” with that said, Spike hoped on her back as she began to fly towards her castle. The unicorn exited the portal and was met with his emotionless doppelganger staring back at him in a room filled with strange objects, charts, maps, and a large active portal in a corner. “Did you leave a sample of the satellite?” he asked with a blank stare. The unicorn nodded before replying. “Indeed, and if she’s as smart as we’ve been led to believe than she’ll cross over. We must give her time, speaking of which,” the unicorn said as he stared at the watch on his hoof, as if on cue, the watch began beeping. “It would seem as though my time is up, I better head back to my world before we cause another distortion” He walked over to the active portal. “In the meantime, I’ll leave the device with you. I want you to see if you can find out what it’s for, if you find anything contact me through ECO as usual” The twin nodded confidently before seeing his lookalike off. Twilight scanned through several books trying to find her answer of the material. When she had finished the last of them she glanced over at Rainbow Dash. “Just as I suspected, this fragment doesn’t match any know material in the history of Equestria” her friend stared back at her in a lost daze. Twilight sighed before continuing. “Meaning whatever that thing was, it wasn’t from this world,” she paused for a moment “Actually now that I think about it, I have seen this material before but it was from the human world” “That’s impossible, how could something from that world cross into this world? The only way is through the mirror or the portal that you made,” asked the pegasus as she struggled to comprehend everything which was happening. “There’s only one way to find out, I have to go back and see if I can dig up any answers,” she stopped and put a hoof under her chin. “Do you remember what that gray unicorn had said, about it not being the time or place for him to tell me? You think maybe he was from the human world?” Rainbow Dash began to laugh as she gave her friend a playful shove. “Come on Twilight, no human could have made it here, and besides the mirror is in a heavily guarded castle and your portal only turns on with your magic” she followed her friend as she entered the room with the portal. “I shouldn’t be gone long, can you watch after Spike while I’m gone?” Twilight’s friend gave her a salute. Twilight grabbed a bag and turned the portal on but faced her friend before she left, “As soon as I find anything I’ll come right back so make sure the portal stays on” “Roger that!” replied Rainbow with a nod. Having said her goodbye, Twilight entered the portal hoping to find answers waiting for her on the other side. When she passed through the statue Twilight found herself staring at the front entrance of Canterlot High. She noticed that the school seemed to have less color than usual and she began to question where she was. It wasn’t until a familiar voice chimed in to let her know she was in the right place that she began to relax. “Well this is unexpected surprise” Twilight turned around to face her old friend Sunset Shimmer who had a smile on her face and carried some books under her arm. Twilight ran over to her and greeted Sunset with a hug. “If you’re here for school you’re a bit early,” said the flame haired girl as she and Twilight began heading to the school’s front doors. “If that’s true than how come you’re here so early?” asked Twilight as she held the door open for her friend. “I’m heading to the library to return these books and get a little studying in before classes start” As they entered the library, Sunset gave Twilight a confused look. “Speaking of which, what brings you here?” “Actually that’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” said Twilight with a serious expression. She reached into her bag she had brought and pulled out a square piece of metal. “I need to know more about this” Sunset Shimmer looked at the square and then back at her friend, still with a puzzling look. “I don’t think I’m getting the gist of what your asking?” She pulled up a chair by one of the computers and motioned for Twilight to sit down. "You want to know more about metal?" "Not exactly, this came from a strange object which crashed outside of Ponyville and I want to know if you've seen it before?" asked Twilight as she handed it to her friend. Sunset Shimmer felt the material as she held it in her hands, she had seen this material before but can't recall where. Just then, her eyes shot wide open as a light lit up in her head. "Yeah, yeah! hold on a sec," Sunset logged onto a computer and began typing on the keyboard quickly. After a few key strokes and several clicks she turned the monitor towards Twilight and show her what was onscreen. "Is this the metal object you said landed in Equeastria?" To Twilight's surprise, the object on screen was in fact what she had seen. Her look of surprise was all Sunset needed to know she was going to say yes. "Its the Technology Advancement Club's prototype satellite. It got first place at the district science fair last year thanks to the club president who, as rumors have it, is a genius" "But what I don't understand is what it's doing in Equeastria?" Asked Twilight with a confused expression. "I'm not sure either," said Sunset as she logged off the computer in stood up from the chair she sat at. "But I might know who does, come on," she grabbed Twilight by her arm in a quick motion. "Where are we going?" "To see the the president of the Technology Advancement Club of course" Chapter 3: The boy called "V" “I just wanna let you know before we go in there,” Sunset Shimmer said as she pointed toward a unique looking door which she had brought Twilight to. “He tends to act a bit, uh different, than most others you’ve met at Canterlot High. Something about his brain processing things differently than what most of us do, or something” Sunset Shimmer knocked on the metallic door as though she attempted to get someone insides attention. “Hey V you in there yet? I got someone who wants to ask you something, it’s important,” Sunset’s knocks were interrupted by a small robotic orb which came out of a opening in the metallic door. It appeared to have a red light in the center of itself which appeared to act as an eye. Twilight seemed both frightened and confused when she noticed the flying metal sphere, her fear only increased when it began to emit a red light from its eye which scanned both the girls. “Don’t worry, he does this anytime someone shows up” Sunset Shimmer said as she faced the floating sphere with a look of irritation. “Do you seriously have to do this ECO?” “My most sincere apologies miss Shimmer it’s just…,” “Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s just protocol and your only following your primary programming,” Sunset said as she interrupted the robotic male voice. “My concerns lie with your programmer whom I’d be happy to address in person if you could open this door” “Why of course, one moment please” the sphere stopped scanning the two girls and retreated by to the door as he said this. Sunset could see the shocked expression on Twilight’s, of course, she was probably as shocked as Sunset when she first came to this door. “That was ECO, you’d better get used to seeing him if your gonna be working with V” “He made a robot?” asked Twilight with a bit of astonishment in her question. “He’s not a robot, he’s a-“ Sunset was interrupted by the sound of a the metal door opening, as it opened with a loud clank, the sphere had returned to accompany the two as they entered. Once they entered the dimly lit room, the door that had been open only seconds before slammed shut rather violently making Twilight jump at the sound. Twilight looked around and noticed that they were in a computer lab, though not one she had ever seen for this computer lab was in a wing of the school not to be occupied by students. All of the computer monitors appeared to be on but Twilight couldn’t read what was on any of the screens, it all appeared to be senseless numbers and letters of many different colors and sizes. “Astonishing isn’t it?” Twilight almost jumped at the sudden appearance of the little bit now in front of her face. “Master V has several different commands inputted into these monitors which send out requests to other devices all over the world, each gathering information and sending it back to master V’s personal computer; ultimately, generating an almost infinite amount of knowledge which he then studies. No more use for him to have to travel to the library in order for him to obtain a good read I suppose” “Really? All the times I’ve come her I always thought they were for dramatic effect,” said Sunset Shimmer as her and Twilight made their way to a door across the room. Sunset approached the door and prepared to knock, however, the door opened before her hand even made contact to the door. The room was a rectangular shape, and even though it was smaller than the one before it, this room was also filled with monitors which lined the walls and also had the strange multicolor coding. Straight ahead at the end of the room, Twilight could see a silver haired figure with a dark grey hooded sweatshirt on typing away at a computer in front of him. “I hate it when you do that, you could at least let me knock ya’know?” said Sunset with an annoyed look on her face. “Nice to see you again too Sunset, It’s always a pleasure to see your smiling face,” replied the boy as he continued to face his monitor and type. Twilight noticed his tone was rather cold and expressionless, she could have sworn it seemed familiar but she couldn’t recall where she had heard it. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure?” “Actually, my friend Twilight is the one who wanted to talk to you,” she replied as her and Twilight made their way closer to where the boy sat, Twilight still looking at the computers lining the walls. When he heard this, the boy stopped typing and waved his bot over to him. “Nice to see you again, Princess Twilight,” he said as ECO returned to an opening in his hard drive tower. Twilight had a look of surprise on her face, but she wasn’t the only one. “You two know each other?” asked Sunset Shimmer with a shared look of confusion. “We only recently just met, however, I wasn’t able to properly introduce myself last time” V swiveled his chair around to face the two girls. “My name is Vector, but you may refer to me simply as V” Twilight recognized the expressionless face as she noticed the thick framed black glasses and bright Cyan colored eyes. “You!? You’re the unicorn who was at the crash site in Equeastria!” Twilight was shocked but also mad, she remembered how Vector had taken her only clue to the satellite without providing any explanation. “Indeed, and I apologize for that but I had to make certain I the time and place was proper before providing you with any sensitive information. As I stated before, the next time we met I’d provide you with all the answers to your questions. Now than,” Vector pushed a key on his computer’s keyboard which provide light to the almost dark room. “Ask whatever you like and I will answer your questions to the best of my ability” Chapter 4: Answers "My first question," Twilight paused for a few seconds as she attempted to locate the right words. "If you're a human, and not originally from Equestria, than how do you know so much about it?" "Ah, an excellent first question. You see, when I become interested in something, I learn as much about it as possible by studying it as thoroughly as possible; though I'm sure that doesn’t fully answer your question. Well than, allow me to provide you with some more background information about myself," V said as he pulled off his glasses and cleaned them with a cloth from his jacket pocket. "My story about my journey to Equestria begins the day that Sunset first entered this world. I was already studying quantum mechanics and multiverse theory at the time so I was able to grasp the concept of a universe separate from this one. When Sunset first crossed into this world, she actually caused several rifts to open across this world separate from the one she exited," Twilight glanced at her friend who had a nervous smile on her face. "After entering one of the pocket hole's," V continued as he put his glasses back on his face. "I found myself in a strange colorful world, and in a new colorful body. Naturally I was worried about the extraordinary change I had just undergone, but then, I was filled with excitement as the thought of gaining knowledge about Equestria crossed my mind. After getting used to my new body and some exploring, I came across a scientific breakthrough; I found my alternate self," "What?" Twilight exclaimed with a confused look. "What do you mean by your alternate self?" Twilight raised a questionable eye brow as she asked this. V turned to his computer before he continued. “As I’m sure your already aware, those in Equeastria have a human counterpart in this world and vice versa,” V explained as he typed on the computer’s keyboard. The monitors all around the room displayed images of Twilight’s friends and others she knew. The images displayed their pony forms and their human counterparts side by side. “Fluttershy; Rarity; Applejack; Pinkie Pie; Rainbow Dash; even you Twilight. Everypony has a counter part, and mine was just as ecstatic to see me as I was him,” V swiveled his chair around to face the two girls again with his hands placed under his chin. “Have you ever heard great minds think alike?” “How-how do you know about all my friends, both here and in Equeastria?” Twilight stammered. “Were you not listening to what I said before?” V asked as he adjusted his glasses before proceeding. “When something interests me, I examine it as thoroughly as possible,” For the first time since she had seen him, Twilight saw a smile form across the boy’s face, though it was only for a brief moment. “Needless to say my Equeastrian self was also interested in you and your friends from my world, so we came up with an idea that we worked tirelessly to achieve,” V put a hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out a small cube looking device, it had to be no bigger than an average ice cube. Twilight’s eyes lit up as she recognized the device that V held in his hand. “We created an interdimensional transportation portal. It took many tries before succession was achieved, first we tested small objects such as a pencil or eraser. Through trial and error we eventually achieved a fully functional portal which could transfer matter across a set of specific radio frequencies,” V tossed the cube up in the air and caught it with his hand as he spoke on. “With the portal completed only one problem remained, how to control the frequencies on a specific channel so as not to disturb the natural balance of Equestria. Hidden in all over Equeastria are special radio towers we created for this specific invention. After spending a few years in Equeastria, me and Equeastria V were able to tweak the teleportation device and link it back to my world, though our first attempt failed, we got it right eventually. Since then, me and Equeastria V have traveled back and forth to both worlds but we learned that I could only stay in Equeastria for a certain amount of time,” V rolled up his right jacket sleeve and revealed a watch around his wrist. “I monitored how long I was in Equeastria and though I was only there for 2 years, it’s equal to 10 minutes in this world, I guess universal time difference is to blame. Last time I stayed any longer a rip in the fabric of space and time occurred, and that was a pain to fix. Anyways, we eventually realized that we needed another form of communication, so I created the Equeastrian Connection Operating system,” V placed hand out as the round little bot came out of his computer’s hard drive and floated into the center of his palm. “You know him as ECO, he’s an artificial intelligence I created to link data across dimension in the forms of computer files. Of course not even the highlight of my creations,” V tossed the bot in the air as he began to float around the room. V placed his hands together under his chin again and stared back at Twilight. “I’ve answered your question as promised, have you anymore?” 'Yeah, how the hay are you so smart?' Twilight thought to herself. Twilight thought for a moment and then noticed something that seemed odd. “If you were in Equeastria at the time Sunset crossed over, how did you two ever meet each other?” Twilight asked as she looked at Sunset Shimmer who’s face held a worried expression. “Oh, ya know, we just met one day and became friends, that’s all,” her friend said with a nervously laugh. “Oh that’s right, how could I have forgotten. You’re a princess aren’t you Twilight?” V asked. His voice sounded surprised but his face didn’t reflect it. “What does that have to do with- “ “Well it’s been nice talking with you Vec but we really must be going, come on Twilight,” Sunset Shimmer interrupted as she attempted to pull her friend to the exit. “Wait,” Twilight said as she pulled back her arm. “Why won’t you let him talk about this? What are you hiding?” Sunset Shimmer gave out a sigh of defeat as she hung her head. “That’s right, I remember now. I helped you that night didn’t I Sunset? That was one of our highlight exploits at the time,” V said as he twirled his hair with his finger. “Exploit? What night are you talking about?” asked Twilight as she looked more confused than ever. “Oh, the night I helped Sunset Shimmer steal your crown of course, it was a rather successful operation, but we couldn’t have done it without the combined efforts of both of us,” Twilight looked over at Sunset who stared down at the floor avoiding eye contact with her friend. “What?....” Twilight asked as she had a saddened look on her face. Chapter 5: Night HeistSunset Shimmered opened the door slightly, only enough to poke her head inside and get a look at the room. Every monitor in the computer lab had a bright green indecipherable text sliding over their screens. She stepped into the dark room which didn't seem to have any functioning lighting except for the bright hue of the green text on the screens which lined the walls of the room. As she made her way through the darkness, Sunset noticed a door at the end of the lab which seemed to cast a brighter light underneath the door. As she opened the door, Sunset noticed unlike the room before it, the room she was in now only had a single monitor which had a much larger screen then the others. The screen appeared to look almost like the size of a rather large flat screen TV and had several different task windows open. Seeing that the room was devoid of life aside from her, Sunset Shimmer walked further into the room to inquire more about what was on the screen. As she neared them, Sunset noticed that several of the windows displayed images of Equestria, one referring in vivid detail the layout of the castle in the Crystal Empire and another showing what looked like a guard patrol schedule. "Hello Sunset" Sunset Shimmer jumped, startled at the emotionless voice which snuck up behind her, causing her to turn around and be faced with a white haired boy. He wore black thick framed glasses and a dark grey hooded sweatshirt, Sunset also noticed the boy was holding something in his hands. In one hand he carried a Styrofoam cup which gave off a steaming aroma of sweetness, in the other, he carried a small plate which had a slice of cake with a plastic fork sticking out of it. "Where did you get that?" the flammed haired girl asked with a confused stare. "Hm? Oh this?" the boy asked as he made a gesture to his cake. "That Pinkie Pie girl threw a party and I got an invitation. You know if you weren't such a brute, I'm sure you'd be invited to social gatherings as well. And as for this," the boy said now taking a sip of his hot drink. “This is French Vanilla coffee from the teacher’s lounge, Principal Celestia didn’t mind me getting a cup,” “No! Not that, this,” Sunset Shimmer said as she pointed toward the large monitor. “Patrol schedules?; personal information on guards?; a detailed written layout of the Crystal Empire castle?; how did you get all of this?” “Well when you told me how you wanted to steal princess Twilight’s crown I figured a bit of reconnaissance was required in order for us to be successful, so, I went to Equeastria and did just that. You’d be amazed what ponies are willing to tell you just by asking a few simple questions,” the boy took another sip of his coffee as he walked past Sunset and sat in a chair which was placed in front of the monitor. “Why are you so willing to help me Vector? I know you, you may be kind, but there is no way your doing ALL of this just for me,” Sunset said as she watched the white haired boy take a bite of cake and type away at his keyboard. “Well, truth be told, I only want one little thing in return for helping you,” “I knew it,” Sunset said as she sighed and rolled her eyes. “What is it that you want?” Vector swiveled his chair around to face Sunset before he continued. “The crown your getting contains magic of large proportions. If I could conduct a study of it, the magic inside the crown might help me with some inventions that I plan on building,” Vector said as he took another bite of cake. “No! Absolutely not! I want that crown for my own agenda and I can’t risk you damaging it,” as she said this, Sunset turned and made her way to the door. “If that’s what you want then I’ll just go at this alone,” “Do you really think that’s a smart move? By my calculations if you go at this alone your chances of success without me decrease by 94.6%.” Sunset Shimmer stopped at the door with her hand on the knob as she heard this. “United we stand, divided we fall as they say,” laughed Vector. “Look, you want the crown, and I want a better understanding of Equeastrian magic. Don’t you see? Neither one of us can do this without the other. If we both want to win this, then we’ll need each others help,” the boy washed down another bite of cake with some of his coffee. “But of course, if you want to leave, you need only to twist the knob,” Sunset Shimmer held on to the knob of the door as she stood, silently contemplating her choices. After a few moments of silence, Sunset gave out a sigh and walked toward the boy. “Fine, once we get the crown I’ll loan it to you for a couple hours but no more, deal?” The boy gave her a nod to inform Sunset they were in agreement. “Alright then, let’s get down to business,” Vector said as he got up from his chair and moved over to a cabinet in the corner of the room. “I have here your shroud of darkness that you’ll need, a bag to carry the crown in, and one crown replica that you’ll be swapping for the original,” the boy pulled out a brown hooded cloak and bag as well as a crown as he said this. He handed the items to Sunset as he finished closing up the cabinet and returning to his computer. “All courtesy of the drama kids in the theater department. Now before you cross over there is one more thing you’ll need,” Vector opened a drew at his computer’s desk and pulled out what looked to Sunset like an ear bud for listening to music. “This, is something I made special for the occasion,” he began as he placed the device gently in Sunset’s ear. “I’ll be able to monitor your position from inside the castle and direct you where to go thanks to this. It’s a earpiece which allows me to locate you and objects around you using echolocation. I’ll spare you the boring details and just say it’ll help me keep in touch with you. I’ve designed it to fit comfortably in your ear and remain out of sight in both your human and your pony form so there should be no problems there,” the boy finished setting up the earpiece and sat back down in his chair as he grabbed his plate. “Now your all set, if you just follow my instructions we should be able to pull this off. Now then, wait by the portal until it’s time, and of course good luck.” Sunset adjusted the hood on herself and put away the fake crown in her bag. She stood silently looking at Vector with a guilty smile. “Hey, V, before I go can I ask you something?” asked Sunset as she rubbed her hands nervously. “Sure, anything,” “Can….can I,” Sunset began. “Can I have a bite of that cake that Pinkie Pie gave you?” The Orange unicorn exited the mirror into a room with no inhabitants and a large double door at the end. “Alright Sunset, moment of truth, if you just listen to me you should be able to slip away with the crown before anypony even notices your there. We have a small window of opportunity and we can’t risk you getting caught, so I'm going to need you not to talk and just listen,” Sunset frowned at how demanding her friend was being, she never did like taking orders from someone. “I designed your earpiece with maximum noise reduction so that no noise I make will be able to escape it. I could yell right and no pony but you would be able to hear me. Anyways, continue forward and exit this room, you should see a guard, avoid him and keep right,” The unicorn did as she was instructed and opened the doors carefully, sure enough, she was faced with the back of a guard making his nightly rounds. She listened to what her friend said and went right down a long hallway. "Another guard coming up, stick to the shadows,” When faced with another guard, Sunset moved quickly out of the way and hid to avoid detection. When the guard faced his back toward Sunset, she maneuvered behind him silently and continued on her way to the crown. “Impressive, say, have you done this before?” Vector teased over the microphone. “Alright, your nearing the princess’ room, proceed with extreme caution,” ‘What do you think I’ve been doing?’ Sunset thought to herself as she moved closer to another pair of double doors. Sunset slowly opened the door and saw the young princess sleeping in a large bed, next to her bed was a smaller dog sized bed which her dragon slept on. “A dragon? Oh how I’d like to study the little thing. But now is not the time, you know what to do, carefully swap out the crowns and then get out of there,” The unicorn used her magic to retrieve the crown, but in the process, she knocked over a lamp which had been resting on the nightstand. She caught it at the last second and returned it to its original position. “That was a close one, try to be a bit more careful Sunset, we’ve come too far to fail now,” With the lamp back on the nightstand, Sunset retrieved the fake crown that her friend had given her and carefully swapped it with the original and placed it in her bag. “Well done my partner in crime, mission accomplished. I’ll be waiting for you in front of the school statue, now, all you have to do is-” Vector was interrupted by a loud thud as Sunset tripped over Spike’s tail. The noise caused both the dragon and the young princess to awake from their slumber. “Sunset you’ve been compromised, you already have the crown just get up and make a run for the mirror! I’ll be waiting for you on the other side,” said Vector in a concerned tone of voice. As Sunset recovered from her fall, she was startled by the high pitch voice of the princess she had robbed. "My crown, she's stolen my crown!" yelled Twilight as Sunset Shimmer dashed out of the room. "Oh boy, that doesn't sound good, alright Sunset there are no guards ahead it's just a straight shot to the portal now," As she continued forward to the mirror, Sunset could hear the cries of Twilight Sparkle rapidly approaching behind her. "Stop, thief!" Twilight used her magic to teleport in front of the unicorn in an attempt to stop her, however, Sunset was one step ahead of her and teleported past her, losing the cloak in the process. "Heads up Sunset, you've got company," The unicorn looked back to see five other ponies running behind Twilight who had joined in the chase. As Twilight got closer, she attempted to bite at Sunset's bag to take back her crown. "Your almost there, keep it up," As she neared the room where the mirror was, Sunset was tackled by Twilight Sparkle and both ponies were sent rolling into the room. During their struggle, the crown Sunset had stolen slipped out of the bag and bounced off of several surfaces before being sent through the portal. "Sunset I got the crown, what happened?" As the crown flew through the air in into the portal, everypony except Sunset let out a gasp. "What did you do with my crown?" asked Twilight with an angered face. "Sorry it had to be this way," Sunset Shimmer teleported herself in front of the mirror before continuing. "Princess" she finished in a sarcastic tone and gave Twilight a salute goodbye before entering the portal. When she exited the other end of the portal, Sunset Shimmer was greeted by her white haired friend who was holding the crown in his hands. "V, we did it," she said as she stood on her feet. Sunset Shimmer noticed that her friend was smiling, not one of his usual fake smiles either, it was one of the few real smiles that he displays after a great feeling of accomplishment; a smile Sunset had only seen one other time since she's known him. "Indeed we did my friend," Vector lost his smile as he carefully looked Sunset over. "Say, where's the cloak?" "I may have lost it in the chase," Sunset said with a nervous smile. "I'll have to find a way to explain that to the theater department," Vector teased. Both the teens began to laugh, knowing that their operation was a success.
Chapter 1: The Ponyville IncidentThe room was devoid almost entirely of light, except for the computer monitors which seemed to glow with numerous screens displaying unreadable numbers and letters. A figure sat in the center of the monitors typing away on the keyboard, but something caught his eye making him stop in mid process. The boy’s face held a stunned expression as he read what was going across his screen, it was something he never thought he would see. “Interesting, judging by these readings, I’d say he’s already begun making his move,” The boy removed his glasses and cleaned them with a cloth before readjusting them back on his face. He typed in a command on the computer. “ECO, run a scan on all EQT’s in sectors A through F and connect me to contact number 334” the boy spoke waiting patiently until a robotic male voice responded. “Connection successful, awaiting scanner results” The boy’s monitor now had an image of a grey pony on it, he had an emotionless look as he was greeted by the human. The two then began to engage in conversation. “He’s making his move right now, isn’t he?” “Yes, multiple anomalies breaching your side in sector’s A through F. Is the new device ready yet?” “I just finished it up this morning, are you crossing over?” “It would seem so” “What’s your ETA?” “I’m leaving now, we’ll begin our investigation at the closest site first, it’s gonna be crashing down outside a small town named Ponyville. Set up for transport and await my arrival” “Understood,” the grey unicorn nodded in recognition to the human's request and the monitor faded to black, leaving the room consumed in total darkness. “Thanks for coming to spot me for flight practice Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash as she and Twilight landed on a cloud. “No problem, me and Spike were going to study the different types of cloud patterns and their effect on the ecosystem anyway, right Spike?” Spike laughed nervously as he jumped to her friend’s back. “Actually Twilight, I just used that as an excuse to tag along. I just really wanted to see the new flight tricks Rainbow Dash had been working on” Twilight had a bit of a saddened look on het face as he said this. “Oh, okay” she said in a low tone. “Just be careful, I can’t risk my number 1 assistant getting hurt” she said with a look of worry. “Roger that,” said Rainbow Dash as she saluted Twilight with a hoof. “Come on Spike let me show something I’ve been working on that’ll rival a Sonic Rainboom” Rainbow and Spike than took off at a fairly fast speed, leaving Twilight alone on the cloud. Even though her friends were within eye sight, Twilight couldn’t help but feel alone. She wished she had a friend who shared common interests with her. Not many ponies were into reading, science, studying, and all the other book wormy things she was in to. As she was lost in her thought, Twilight watched Rainbow Dash with Spike on her back burst through clouds and zoom across the sky. But as she watched her, Twilight saw a strange transparent formation in the sky. It quickly became visible as it appeared to puncture through space and time itself, entering the dimension. “Rainbow Dash look out!” Twilight screamed to her friend. Rainbow Dash and Spike narrowly escaped getting hit by the strange object, she and Spike watched as it crashed down in an empty plain below them. Twilight flew straight down to the objects crash sight, as she descended upon it, she took notice that the object was made of a metallic bond. She stared at it in pure awe as Rainbow Dash caught up with her on the ground. “What is that thing?” the pegasus asked with a puzzled look. “I’m not sure” Twilight replied as she walked closer to the object. “It doesn’t look like its made of any known metal I’ve ever seen” “That’s because it belongs to aliens!” Spike yelled with a worried look on his face. “Come on Spike, aliens?” Rainbow Dash laughed at the little dragon as she asked. “So what’s this supposed to be? An alien spaceship?” Rainbow teased. “Interesting thought, though the concept and design of the structure would contradict such a theory” The three friends turned around when they heard a voice speak from behind them. When they turned to the direction of the speaker, their curiosity was met by a dark grey unicorn with a mane and tail of silver. Unlike the rest of his body, his eyes were a bright Cyan which stood out, even when hidden behind his thick frame glasses that he wore on his expressionless face. “If you were to examine it closer, one could clearly see that the architecture of this device is too rough to hold any kind of propeller or engine,” the unicorn said as he walked past the trio and up to the object. He put his head to it and knocked several times, “No reverberations, it’s a solid object. Simple deduction would mean that it has no means to hold any sizable occupants even by a filly's standards, ergo making it quite inconceivable for any kind of foreign life to inhabit such an object” he then turned to face Twilight. “Apologies for the rude intrusion your Highness,” said the pony as he bow his head. “No need for formalities,” said Twilight as she held a astonished look. “You seem to have an a good idea of what this is don’t you?” Twilight asked as she raised an eyebrow. “I bet he knows about what it is because he’s the cause of it” Rainbow Dash had a skeptical look on her face as she eyed the unicorn. Twilight shot her friend a quick glance of disapproval before she faced the grey pony again. “I’m afraid both your accusations lack sufficient evidence to bring your suspicions to a conclusion” the unicorn replied as he pulled out a strange looking box and threw it on the ground. He stepped on it and triggered it to expand and take the form of a portal which hummed to life with a spinning purple and lavender swirl. Twilight gasped from surprise of what she had just seen. “I apologize Princess Twilight, but we must really be on our way” “We?” asked Twilight with a confused expression. Just then, another pony which held a striking resemblance to the one already present emerged from the portal. “What’s going on?” Twilight’s face now held a look of irritation and confusion. One of the ponies pulled out another box looking object and used his magic to turn it on. Unlike the other, this box appeared to envelope the object in magic before sucking it in within seconds. The unicorn picked it up with his magic and went through the portal, the other turned to follow him when a yell from behind made him stop. “Who are you!? And what is that thing and where are you taking it?” Twilight was staring hard at the pony with anger in her eyes, “I want answers!” she yelled as the unicorn slowly turned to meet her gaze. He stood for a few moments in silence with his expressionless eyes locked on her's. “You will receive answers Twilight Sparkle, but now is not the time nor the place. When we meet again I will provide any and all answers that you require. However, for the time being the only information I may give you is BlackHat. If your as smart as I heard you are, than you’ll find out what it means soon enough” as he said this, the unicorn stepped into the portal which immediately closed behind him, making chase impossible. Twilight stood with Rainbow Dash and Spike who shared her extremely confused expression. What were those objects? Who was that mysterious pony? And what could any of thing he just said possibly mean.
Chapter 2: Back To SchoolTwilight stood in silence as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. She had so many questions and not a single answer except for a phrase which may or may not mean something, it was irritating her inside. Seeing this, Rainbow Dash tried to lighten her friend’s mood. “So I’m guessing your just as confused as we are?” asked Rainbow as she gave a nervous laugh. Seeing her attempt wasn’t working, the pegasus tried a different approach. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked as she flew to her friend. “Rainbow head back to Canterlot and inform Princess Celestia of what happened here. Spike and I will examine the crash sight and look for clues” The pegasus gave her an assuring nod and took off towards the city at great speed. Twilight walked into the small crater and looked around searching for even the faintest of clues. She noticed a small metallic fragment under some ruble, using her horn she levitated the piece in front of her face as she studded it. She put in a bag that she had with her and turned to her dragon. “Come on Spike, I think I know where this came from” with that said, Spike hoped on her back as she began to fly towards her castle. The unicorn exited the portal and was met with his emotionless doppelganger staring back at him in a room filled with strange objects, charts, maps, and a large active portal in a corner. “Did you leave a sample of the satellite?” he asked with a blank stare. The unicorn nodded before replying. “Indeed, and if she’s as smart as we’ve been led to believe than she’ll cross over. We must give her time, speaking of which,” the unicorn said as he stared at the watch on his hoof, as if on cue, the watch began beeping. “It would seem as though my time is up, I better head back to my world before we cause another distortion” He walked over to the active portal. “In the meantime, I’ll leave the device with you. I want you to see if you can find out what it’s for, if you find anything contact me through ECO as usual” The twin nodded confidently before seeing his lookalike off. Twilight scanned through several books trying to find her answer of the material. When she had finished the last of them she glanced over at Rainbow Dash. “Just as I suspected, this fragment doesn’t match any know material in the history of Equestria” her friend stared back at her in a lost daze. Twilight sighed before continuing. “Meaning whatever that thing was, it wasn’t from this world,” she paused for a moment “Actually now that I think about it, I have seen this material before but it was from the human world” “That’s impossible, how could something from that world cross into this world? The only way is through the mirror or the portal that you made,” asked the pegasus as she struggled to comprehend everything which was happening. “There’s only one way to find out, I have to go back and see if I can dig up any answers,” she stopped and put a hoof under her chin. “Do you remember what that gray unicorn had said, about it not being the time or place for him to tell me? You think maybe he was from the human world?” Rainbow Dash began to laugh as she gave her friend a playful shove. “Come on Twilight, no human could have made it here, and besides the mirror is in a heavily guarded castle and your portal only turns on with your magic” she followed her friend as she entered the room with the portal. “I shouldn’t be gone long, can you watch after Spike while I’m gone?” Twilight’s friend gave her a salute. Twilight grabbed a bag and turned the portal on but faced her friend before she left, “As soon as I find anything I’ll come right back so make sure the portal stays on” “Roger that!” replied Rainbow with a nod. Having said her goodbye, Twilight entered the portal hoping to find answers waiting for her on the other side. When she passed through the statue Twilight found herself staring at the front entrance of Canterlot High. She noticed that the school seemed to have less color than usual and she began to question where she was. It wasn’t until a familiar voice chimed in to let her know she was in the right place that she began to relax. “Well this is unexpected surprise” Twilight turned around to face her old friend Sunset Shimmer who had a smile on her face and carried some books under her arm. Twilight ran over to her and greeted Sunset with a hug. “If you’re here for school you’re a bit early,” said the flame haired girl as she and Twilight began heading to the school’s front doors. “If that’s true than how come you’re here so early?” asked Twilight as she held the door open for her friend. “I’m heading to the library to return these books and get a little studying in before classes start” As they entered the library, Sunset gave Twilight a confused look. “Speaking of which, what brings you here?” “Actually that’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” said Twilight with a serious expression. She reached into her bag she had brought and pulled out a square piece of metal. “I need to know more about this” Sunset Shimmer looked at the square and then back at her friend, still with a puzzling look. “I don’t think I’m getting the gist of what your asking?” She pulled up a chair by one of the computers and motioned for Twilight to sit down. "You want to know more about metal?" "Not exactly, this came from a strange object which crashed outside of Ponyville and I want to know if you've seen it before?" asked Twilight as she handed it to her friend. Sunset Shimmer felt the material as she held it in her hands, she had seen this material before but can't recall where. Just then, her eyes shot wide open as a light lit up in her head. "Yeah, yeah! hold on a sec," Sunset logged onto a computer and began typing on the keyboard quickly. After a few key strokes and several clicks she turned the monitor towards Twilight and show her what was onscreen. "Is this the metal object you said landed in Equeastria?" To Twilight's surprise, the object on screen was in fact what she had seen. Her look of surprise was all Sunset needed to know she was going to say yes. "Its the Technology Advancement Club's prototype satellite. It got first place at the district science fair last year thanks to the club president who, as rumors have it, is a genius" "But what I don't understand is what it's doing in Equeastria?" Asked Twilight with a confused expression. "I'm not sure either," said Sunset as she logged off the computer in stood up from the chair she sat at. "But I might know who does, come on," she grabbed Twilight by her arm in a quick motion. "Where are we going?" "To see the the president of the Technology Advancement Club of course"
Chapter 3: The boy called "V" “I just wanna let you know before we go in there,” Sunset Shimmer said as she pointed toward a unique looking door which she had brought Twilight to. “He tends to act a bit, uh different, than most others you’ve met at Canterlot High. Something about his brain processing things differently than what most of us do, or something” Sunset Shimmer knocked on the metallic door as though she attempted to get someone insides attention. “Hey V you in there yet? I got someone who wants to ask you something, it’s important,” Sunset’s knocks were interrupted by a small robotic orb which came out of a opening in the metallic door. It appeared to have a red light in the center of itself which appeared to act as an eye. Twilight seemed both frightened and confused when she noticed the flying metal sphere, her fear only increased when it began to emit a red light from its eye which scanned both the girls. “Don’t worry, he does this anytime someone shows up” Sunset Shimmer said as she faced the floating sphere with a look of irritation. “Do you seriously have to do this ECO?” “My most sincere apologies miss Shimmer it’s just…,” “Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s just protocol and your only following your primary programming,” Sunset said as she interrupted the robotic male voice. “My concerns lie with your programmer whom I’d be happy to address in person if you could open this door” “Why of course, one moment please” the sphere stopped scanning the two girls and retreated by to the door as he said this. Sunset could see the shocked expression on Twilight’s, of course, she was probably as shocked as Sunset when she first came to this door. “That was ECO, you’d better get used to seeing him if your gonna be working with V” “He made a robot?” asked Twilight with a bit of astonishment in her question. “He’s not a robot, he’s a-“ Sunset was interrupted by the sound of a the metal door opening, as it opened with a loud clank, the sphere had returned to accompany the two as they entered. Once they entered the dimly lit room, the door that had been open only seconds before slammed shut rather violently making Twilight jump at the sound. Twilight looked around and noticed that they were in a computer lab, though not one she had ever seen for this computer lab was in a wing of the school not to be occupied by students. All of the computer monitors appeared to be on but Twilight couldn’t read what was on any of the screens, it all appeared to be senseless numbers and letters of many different colors and sizes. “Astonishing isn’t it?” Twilight almost jumped at the sudden appearance of the little bit now in front of her face. “Master V has several different commands inputted into these monitors which send out requests to other devices all over the world, each gathering information and sending it back to master V’s personal computer; ultimately, generating an almost infinite amount of knowledge which he then studies. No more use for him to have to travel to the library in order for him to obtain a good read I suppose” “Really? All the times I’ve come her I always thought they were for dramatic effect,” said Sunset Shimmer as her and Twilight made their way to a door across the room. Sunset approached the door and prepared to knock, however, the door opened before her hand even made contact to the door. The room was a rectangular shape, and even though it was smaller than the one before it, this room was also filled with monitors which lined the walls and also had the strange multicolor coding. Straight ahead at the end of the room, Twilight could see a silver haired figure with a dark grey hooded sweatshirt on typing away at a computer in front of him. “I hate it when you do that, you could at least let me knock ya’know?” said Sunset with an annoyed look on her face. “Nice to see you again too Sunset, It’s always a pleasure to see your smiling face,” replied the boy as he continued to face his monitor and type. Twilight noticed his tone was rather cold and expressionless, she could have sworn it seemed familiar but she couldn’t recall where she had heard it. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure?” “Actually, my friend Twilight is the one who wanted to talk to you,” she replied as her and Twilight made their way closer to where the boy sat, Twilight still looking at the computers lining the walls. When he heard this, the boy stopped typing and waved his bot over to him. “Nice to see you again, Princess Twilight,” he said as ECO returned to an opening in his hard drive tower. Twilight had a look of surprise on her face, but she wasn’t the only one. “You two know each other?” asked Sunset Shimmer with a shared look of confusion. “We only recently just met, however, I wasn’t able to properly introduce myself last time” V swiveled his chair around to face the two girls. “My name is Vector, but you may refer to me simply as V” Twilight recognized the expressionless face as she noticed the thick framed black glasses and bright Cyan colored eyes. “You!? You’re the unicorn who was at the crash site in Equeastria!” Twilight was shocked but also mad, she remembered how Vector had taken her only clue to the satellite without providing any explanation. “Indeed, and I apologize for that but I had to make certain I the time and place was proper before providing you with any sensitive information. As I stated before, the next time we met I’d provide you with all the answers to your questions. Now than,” Vector pushed a key on his computer’s keyboard which provide light to the almost dark room. “Ask whatever you like and I will answer your questions to the best of my ability”
Chapter 4: Answers "My first question," Twilight paused for a few seconds as she attempted to locate the right words. "If you're a human, and not originally from Equestria, than how do you know so much about it?" "Ah, an excellent first question. You see, when I become interested in something, I learn as much about it as possible by studying it as thoroughly as possible; though I'm sure that doesn’t fully answer your question. Well than, allow me to provide you with some more background information about myself," V said as he pulled off his glasses and cleaned them with a cloth from his jacket pocket. "My story about my journey to Equestria begins the day that Sunset first entered this world. I was already studying quantum mechanics and multiverse theory at the time so I was able to grasp the concept of a universe separate from this one. When Sunset first crossed into this world, she actually caused several rifts to open across this world separate from the one she exited," Twilight glanced at her friend who had a nervous smile on her face. "After entering one of the pocket hole's," V continued as he put his glasses back on his face. "I found myself in a strange colorful world, and in a new colorful body. Naturally I was worried about the extraordinary change I had just undergone, but then, I was filled with excitement as the thought of gaining knowledge about Equestria crossed my mind. After getting used to my new body and some exploring, I came across a scientific breakthrough; I found my alternate self," "What?" Twilight exclaimed with a confused look. "What do you mean by your alternate self?" Twilight raised a questionable eye brow as she asked this. V turned to his computer before he continued. “As I’m sure your already aware, those in Equeastria have a human counterpart in this world and vice versa,” V explained as he typed on the computer’s keyboard. The monitors all around the room displayed images of Twilight’s friends and others she knew. The images displayed their pony forms and their human counterparts side by side. “Fluttershy; Rarity; Applejack; Pinkie Pie; Rainbow Dash; even you Twilight. Everypony has a counter part, and mine was just as ecstatic to see me as I was him,” V swiveled his chair around to face the two girls again with his hands placed under his chin. “Have you ever heard great minds think alike?” “How-how do you know about all my friends, both here and in Equeastria?” Twilight stammered. “Were you not listening to what I said before?” V asked as he adjusted his glasses before proceeding. “When something interests me, I examine it as thoroughly as possible,” For the first time since she had seen him, Twilight saw a smile form across the boy’s face, though it was only for a brief moment. “Needless to say my Equeastrian self was also interested in you and your friends from my world, so we came up with an idea that we worked tirelessly to achieve,” V put a hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out a small cube looking device, it had to be no bigger than an average ice cube. Twilight’s eyes lit up as she recognized the device that V held in his hand. “We created an interdimensional transportation portal. It took many tries before succession was achieved, first we tested small objects such as a pencil or eraser. Through trial and error we eventually achieved a fully functional portal which could transfer matter across a set of specific radio frequencies,” V tossed the cube up in the air and caught it with his hand as he spoke on. “With the portal completed only one problem remained, how to control the frequencies on a specific channel so as not to disturb the natural balance of Equestria. Hidden in all over Equeastria are special radio towers we created for this specific invention. After spending a few years in Equeastria, me and Equeastria V were able to tweak the teleportation device and link it back to my world, though our first attempt failed, we got it right eventually. Since then, me and Equeastria V have traveled back and forth to both worlds but we learned that I could only stay in Equeastria for a certain amount of time,” V rolled up his right jacket sleeve and revealed a watch around his wrist. “I monitored how long I was in Equeastria and though I was only there for 2 years, it’s equal to 10 minutes in this world, I guess universal time difference is to blame. Last time I stayed any longer a rip in the fabric of space and time occurred, and that was a pain to fix. Anyways, we eventually realized that we needed another form of communication, so I created the Equeastrian Connection Operating system,” V placed hand out as the round little bot came out of his computer’s hard drive and floated into the center of his palm. “You know him as ECO, he’s an artificial intelligence I created to link data across dimension in the forms of computer files. Of course not even the highlight of my creations,” V tossed the bot in the air as he began to float around the room. V placed his hands together under his chin again and stared back at Twilight. “I’ve answered your question as promised, have you anymore?” 'Yeah, how the hay are you so smart?' Twilight thought to herself. Twilight thought for a moment and then noticed something that seemed odd. “If you were in Equeastria at the time Sunset crossed over, how did you two ever meet each other?” Twilight asked as she looked at Sunset Shimmer who’s face held a worried expression. “Oh, ya know, we just met one day and became friends, that’s all,” her friend said with a nervously laugh. “Oh that’s right, how could I have forgotten. You’re a princess aren’t you Twilight?” V asked. His voice sounded surprised but his face didn’t reflect it. “What does that have to do with- “ “Well it’s been nice talking with you Vec but we really must be going, come on Twilight,” Sunset Shimmer interrupted as she attempted to pull her friend to the exit. “Wait,” Twilight said as she pulled back her arm. “Why won’t you let him talk about this? What are you hiding?” Sunset Shimmer gave out a sigh of defeat as she hung her head. “That’s right, I remember now. I helped you that night didn’t I Sunset? That was one of our highlight exploits at the time,” V said as he twirled his hair with his finger. “Exploit? What night are you talking about?” asked Twilight as she looked more confused than ever. “Oh, the night I helped Sunset Shimmer steal your crown of course, it was a rather successful operation, but we couldn’t have done it without the combined efforts of both of us,” Twilight looked over at Sunset who stared down at the floor avoiding eye contact with her friend. “What?....” Twilight asked as she had a saddened look on her face.
Chapter 5: Night HeistSunset Shimmered opened the door slightly, only enough to poke her head inside and get a look at the room. Every monitor in the computer lab had a bright green indecipherable text sliding over their screens. She stepped into the dark room which didn't seem to have any functioning lighting except for the bright hue of the green text on the screens which lined the walls of the room. As she made her way through the darkness, Sunset noticed a door at the end of the lab which seemed to cast a brighter light underneath the door. As she opened the door, Sunset noticed unlike the room before it, the room she was in now only had a single monitor which had a much larger screen then the others. The screen appeared to look almost like the size of a rather large flat screen TV and had several different task windows open. Seeing that the room was devoid of life aside from her, Sunset Shimmer walked further into the room to inquire more about what was on the screen. As she neared them, Sunset noticed that several of the windows displayed images of Equestria, one referring in vivid detail the layout of the castle in the Crystal Empire and another showing what looked like a guard patrol schedule. "Hello Sunset" Sunset Shimmer jumped, startled at the emotionless voice which snuck up behind her, causing her to turn around and be faced with a white haired boy. He wore black thick framed glasses and a dark grey hooded sweatshirt, Sunset also noticed the boy was holding something in his hands. In one hand he carried a Styrofoam cup which gave off a steaming aroma of sweetness, in the other, he carried a small plate which had a slice of cake with a plastic fork sticking out of it. "Where did you get that?" the flammed haired girl asked with a confused stare. "Hm? Oh this?" the boy asked as he made a gesture to his cake. "That Pinkie Pie girl threw a party and I got an invitation. You know if you weren't such a brute, I'm sure you'd be invited to social gatherings as well. And as for this," the boy said now taking a sip of his hot drink. “This is French Vanilla coffee from the teacher’s lounge, Principal Celestia didn’t mind me getting a cup,” “No! Not that, this,” Sunset Shimmer said as she pointed toward the large monitor. “Patrol schedules?; personal information on guards?; a detailed written layout of the Crystal Empire castle?; how did you get all of this?” “Well when you told me how you wanted to steal princess Twilight’s crown I figured a bit of reconnaissance was required in order for us to be successful, so, I went to Equeastria and did just that. You’d be amazed what ponies are willing to tell you just by asking a few simple questions,” the boy took another sip of his coffee as he walked past Sunset and sat in a chair which was placed in front of the monitor. “Why are you so willing to help me Vector? I know you, you may be kind, but there is no way your doing ALL of this just for me,” Sunset said as she watched the white haired boy take a bite of cake and type away at his keyboard. “Well, truth be told, I only want one little thing in return for helping you,” “I knew it,” Sunset said as she sighed and rolled her eyes. “What is it that you want?” Vector swiveled his chair around to face Sunset before he continued. “The crown your getting contains magic of large proportions. If I could conduct a study of it, the magic inside the crown might help me with some inventions that I plan on building,” Vector said as he took another bite of cake. “No! Absolutely not! I want that crown for my own agenda and I can’t risk you damaging it,” as she said this, Sunset turned and made her way to the door. “If that’s what you want then I’ll just go at this alone,” “Do you really think that’s a smart move? By my calculations if you go at this alone your chances of success without me decrease by 94.6%.” Sunset Shimmer stopped at the door with her hand on the knob as she heard this. “United we stand, divided we fall as they say,” laughed Vector. “Look, you want the crown, and I want a better understanding of Equeastrian magic. Don’t you see? Neither one of us can do this without the other. If we both want to win this, then we’ll need each others help,” the boy washed down another bite of cake with some of his coffee. “But of course, if you want to leave, you need only to twist the knob,” Sunset Shimmer held on to the knob of the door as she stood, silently contemplating her choices. After a few moments of silence, Sunset gave out a sigh and walked toward the boy. “Fine, once we get the crown I’ll loan it to you for a couple hours but no more, deal?” The boy gave her a nod to inform Sunset they were in agreement. “Alright then, let’s get down to business,” Vector said as he got up from his chair and moved over to a cabinet in the corner of the room. “I have here your shroud of darkness that you’ll need, a bag to carry the crown in, and one crown replica that you’ll be swapping for the original,” the boy pulled out a brown hooded cloak and bag as well as a crown as he said this. He handed the items to Sunset as he finished closing up the cabinet and returning to his computer. “All courtesy of the drama kids in the theater department. Now before you cross over there is one more thing you’ll need,” Vector opened a drew at his computer’s desk and pulled out what looked to Sunset like an ear bud for listening to music. “This, is something I made special for the occasion,” he began as he placed the device gently in Sunset’s ear. “I’ll be able to monitor your position from inside the castle and direct you where to go thanks to this. It’s a earpiece which allows me to locate you and objects around you using echolocation. I’ll spare you the boring details and just say it’ll help me keep in touch with you. I’ve designed it to fit comfortably in your ear and remain out of sight in both your human and your pony form so there should be no problems there,” the boy finished setting up the earpiece and sat back down in his chair as he grabbed his plate. “Now your all set, if you just follow my instructions we should be able to pull this off. Now then, wait by the portal until it’s time, and of course good luck.” Sunset adjusted the hood on herself and put away the fake crown in her bag. She stood silently looking at Vector with a guilty smile. “Hey, V, before I go can I ask you something?” asked Sunset as she rubbed her hands nervously. “Sure, anything,” “Can….can I,” Sunset began. “Can I have a bite of that cake that Pinkie Pie gave you?” The Orange unicorn exited the mirror into a room with no inhabitants and a large double door at the end. “Alright Sunset, moment of truth, if you just listen to me you should be able to slip away with the crown before anypony even notices your there. We have a small window of opportunity and we can’t risk you getting caught, so I'm going to need you not to talk and just listen,” Sunset frowned at how demanding her friend was being, she never did like taking orders from someone. “I designed your earpiece with maximum noise reduction so that no noise I make will be able to escape it. I could yell right and no pony but you would be able to hear me. Anyways, continue forward and exit this room, you should see a guard, avoid him and keep right,” The unicorn did as she was instructed and opened the doors carefully, sure enough, she was faced with the back of a guard making his nightly rounds. She listened to what her friend said and went right down a long hallway. "Another guard coming up, stick to the shadows,” When faced with another guard, Sunset moved quickly out of the way and hid to avoid detection. When the guard faced his back toward Sunset, she maneuvered behind him silently and continued on her way to the crown. “Impressive, say, have you done this before?” Vector teased over the microphone. “Alright, your nearing the princess’ room, proceed with extreme caution,” ‘What do you think I’ve been doing?’ Sunset thought to herself as she moved closer to another pair of double doors. Sunset slowly opened the door and saw the young princess sleeping in a large bed, next to her bed was a smaller dog sized bed which her dragon slept on. “A dragon? Oh how I’d like to study the little thing. But now is not the time, you know what to do, carefully swap out the crowns and then get out of there,” The unicorn used her magic to retrieve the crown, but in the process, she knocked over a lamp which had been resting on the nightstand. She caught it at the last second and returned it to its original position. “That was a close one, try to be a bit more careful Sunset, we’ve come too far to fail now,” With the lamp back on the nightstand, Sunset retrieved the fake crown that her friend had given her and carefully swapped it with the original and placed it in her bag. “Well done my partner in crime, mission accomplished. I’ll be waiting for you in front of the school statue, now, all you have to do is-” Vector was interrupted by a loud thud as Sunset tripped over Spike’s tail. The noise caused both the dragon and the young princess to awake from their slumber. “Sunset you’ve been compromised, you already have the crown just get up and make a run for the mirror! I’ll be waiting for you on the other side,” said Vector in a concerned tone of voice. As Sunset recovered from her fall, she was startled by the high pitch voice of the princess she had robbed. "My crown, she's stolen my crown!" yelled Twilight as Sunset Shimmer dashed out of the room. "Oh boy, that doesn't sound good, alright Sunset there are no guards ahead it's just a straight shot to the portal now," As she continued forward to the mirror, Sunset could hear the cries of Twilight Sparkle rapidly approaching behind her. "Stop, thief!" Twilight used her magic to teleport in front of the unicorn in an attempt to stop her, however, Sunset was one step ahead of her and teleported past her, losing the cloak in the process. "Heads up Sunset, you've got company," The unicorn looked back to see five other ponies running behind Twilight who had joined in the chase. As Twilight got closer, she attempted to bite at Sunset's bag to take back her crown. "Your almost there, keep it up," As she neared the room where the mirror was, Sunset was tackled by Twilight Sparkle and both ponies were sent rolling into the room. During their struggle, the crown Sunset had stolen slipped out of the bag and bounced off of several surfaces before being sent through the portal. "Sunset I got the crown, what happened?" As the crown flew through the air in into the portal, everypony except Sunset let out a gasp. "What did you do with my crown?" asked Twilight with an angered face. "Sorry it had to be this way," Sunset Shimmer teleported herself in front of the mirror before continuing. "Princess" she finished in a sarcastic tone and gave Twilight a salute goodbye before entering the portal. When she exited the other end of the portal, Sunset Shimmer was greeted by her white haired friend who was holding the crown in his hands. "V, we did it," she said as she stood on her feet. Sunset Shimmer noticed that her friend was smiling, not one of his usual fake smiles either, it was one of the few real smiles that he displays after a great feeling of accomplishment; a smile Sunset had only seen one other time since she's known him. "Indeed we did my friend," Vector lost his smile as he carefully looked Sunset over. "Say, where's the cloak?" "I may have lost it in the chase," Sunset said with a nervous smile. "I'll have to find a way to explain that to the theater department," Vector teased. Both the teens began to laugh, knowing that their operation was a success.
